For Merrill Hille, professor of zoology, student evaluations were not a factor in making course revisions. Feedback from students was positive, and the department was satisfied with her approach. But when students in her 400-level cell biology class responded enthusiastically to a specific assignment, Hille saw possibilities for improving the class.

	Merrill Hille (second from left) with students in her zoology course..

The assignment was to have students critically analyze a published scientific research paper. She’d had students do this before, but this paper was a bit different: the author provided data but offered no conclusion—no interpretation of why the findings might be important.

“The author offered just the facts, but reviewers for Science magazine wrote about why the paper was so important,” recalls Hille. “So I had students read the paper and, working in groups, come up with their own interpretation. I had to push them to see that there was a more significant point in the paper than the author was willing to suggest. And they got it.”

Recognizing how the project challenged her students, Hille created other assignments in which she provided a scientist’s data and methods but not the scientist’s conclusions. She asked students to write up their own conclusions based on the data.

“I call these assignments ‘virtual experiments,’” says Hille, “because students pretend they went into the lab and got this data and now they need to figure out what it all means. They are essentially becoming scientists.”

In the beginning Hille assigned one ‘virtual experiment’ each quarter and lectured the rest of the time, but as she witnessed the assignment’s effectiveness she began to lecture less and add more experiments. “They turned out to be the keystone of the course,” she says. “It was what students enjoyed the most and what helped them think best.”

In a recent course evaluation, one student wrote, “I have learned more in this class than in any class I have ever taken.” Others offer similar comments, praising Hille’s approach.

“I can’t cover as much material, but I’m covering it in a depth they haven’t had before,” Hille says. “And I’m covering it in such a way that the concepts they learn can be used in other courses. I just can’t teach any other way anymore. I really like students to think on their own.”

Next Section: Lisa Coutu: Shrinking the Class with Technology

[Winter/Spring 2001 - Table of Contents]